World War II The 31st Pursuit Group, the predecessor unit of the wing's 31st Operations Group, was activated at
Selfridge Field, Michigan, on 1 February 1940. In June 1942, the 31st Pursuit Group was transferred to England without planes and began training in British
Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vbs at Achem and
High Ercall air bases. They were the first complete American combat group in the
European Theater of Operations and the first to engage in combat. On 14 October 1942, the group was declared non-operational on prior to boarding ships bound for its next assignment. That next assignment included participating in the invasion force that landed in North Africa on 8 November 1942, becoming the first American Air Force unit to see combat in theater. As the
Allied forces looked to Europe, the 31st was assigned to the
64th Fighter Wing and were the first
US Army Air Forces unit in combat in Malta and Sicily and the first to land in Italy. They distinguished the unit by destroying seven enemy fighters attacking allied shipping during the
invasion of Sicily and six more attacking the invasion force on the beaches of Salerno. Their missions consisted mainly of sweeps over allied positions and escorting bombers attacking German positions. January 1944 brought the
Allied landing at Anzio with the 31st the sole provider of air cover for the invasion and beachhead. Originally assigned F-51 Mustangs, the wing began converting to
Republic F-84 Thunderjets in August 1948. In 1950 the wing transferred from
Tactical Air Command to
Strategic Air Command and was redesignated as the 31st Fighter-Escort Wing.
Operation Fox Peter One The wing pioneered the development of in flight refueling tactics. On 6 July 1952 the wing executed
Operation Fox Peter One, the mass movement of the entire wing from Turner Field to
Misawa Air Base, Japan using
aerial refueling to fly non-stop from Turner to
Travis Air Force Base, California, and from Travis to
Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. The unit then island-hopped across the rest of the Pacific with stops at
Midway and
Wake Islands,
Eniwetok Atoll,
Guam,
Iwo Jima and
Yokota Air Base, Japan. The sheer magnitude of this accomplishment was sufficient to name the 31st Fighter Escort Wing as the recipient of the first-ever
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award. The wing commander, Colonel
David C. Schilling, won the
Air Force Association Trophy, which was later named after him. This movement included the longest over-water flight attempted to that date and was the first trans-Pacific mass flight of jet aircraft. As an encore, on 20 August 1953, Col Schilling led a flight of eight F-84s on a 10.5-hour non-stop flight from Turner Field to
Nouasseur Air Base,
French Morocco. This successful flight culminated in the
40th Air Division of the Strategic Air Command receiving the Mackay Trophy in 1953. During 1953, the wing, then known as the 31st Strategic Fighter Wing, deployed to Japan and Alaska to provide air defense in the northern Pacific. On 15 March 1959, the wing moved without people or equipment to
George Air Force Base, California During the wing's time in California, it deployed units for four-month alert rotations to
Moron Air Base, Spain and Aviano Air Base, Italy.
1971–1990 The wing assumed a dual-role function with the primary mission of air defense of southern Florida and the secondary as a replacement training unit. Two of the wing's fighter squadrons, the 307th and 309th, were designated to perform pilot replacement training. From April to August 1972, the 308th deployed to
Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand to participate in
Operation Linebacker, followed in July by the 307th TFS. In June 1972, Captains John Cerak and David B. Dingee of the 308th Tactical Fighter Squadron were shot down and captured by
North Vietnamese forces and were confirmed as prisoners of war. They were both released and returned to the United States in March 1973. On 27 June 1972, Lt Col Farrell J. Sullivan and Captain Richard L. Francis of the
523d Tactical Fighter Squadron of the
405th Fighter Wing were shot down over
Hanoi while flying an F-4E assigned to the 308th squadron while the 308th was on temporary duty at Udorn. Sullivan was classified as
missing in action and following the war, was reclassified as
killed in action. Francis was captured and remained a POW until his release at the end of hostilities on 28 March 1973. On 15 October 1972, Captains James L. Hendrickson and Gary M. Rubus of the 307th Tactical Fighter Squadron shot down a
MiG-21 northeast of Hanoi. This marked the first aerial victory for the wing in Vietnam and the first for the wing since the end of World War II. In 1979 and 1980, the wing transferred its F-4Es to
Air National Guard units and the
Egyptian Air Force, and began operating F-4Ds. The fighter squadrons evacuated most of the planes before the storm but were unable to return. In the aftermath, the
Secretary of Defense recommended complete closure of the base, but in June 1993, the
Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended realigning the base under the
Air Force Reserve Command and inactivating the 31st Fighter Wing. The squadrons were assigned to other wings and the 31st began inactivation proceedings. To avoid losing the wing's heritage and history as the highest scoring Army Air Force unit in the Mediterranean Theater in WWII, the impressive combat record in Vietnam and number of significant firsts they produced in the early years of the Air Force, the 31st was chosen to move rather than fade into obscurity. On 1 April 1994, the 31st Fighter Wing inactivated at Homestead and subsequently activated at Aviano Air Base, Italy in place of the 401st Fighter Wing. of the 555th FS from behind enemy lines. An
HH-53 of the
United States Marine Corps picked him up after he evaded capture for six days. In 1999, USAFE activated the 31st Air Expeditionary Wing-NOBLE ANVIL (31st AEW) at Aviano for
Operation Allied Force, the NATO operation to stop Serbian atrocities in the
Province of Kosovo. Assigned under a joint task force, the 31st AEW, flew from Aviano and joined NATO allies in a 78-day air campaign against Serbia. From 24 March to 10 June 1999, the 31st AEW, the largest expeditionary wing in Air Force history flew nearly 9,000 combat sorties and accumulated almost 40,000 hours of combat service over the skies of Kosovo, Serbia and the rest of the Balkans in support of NATO operations. The wing accomplished much during Operation Allied Force as the two permanently assigned flying squadrons, the 510th and 555th, flew more than 2,400 combined sorties and more than 10,000 combat hours.
Operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya In 2000, the wing began deployments in support of the Expeditionary Air Force. From March to September 2000, the 510th and 555th Fighter Squadrons conducted back-to-back deployments to
Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base, Kuwait, in support of
Operation Southern Watch. While at Al Jaber, the squadrons flew more than 400 combat sorties. From June through December 2001, the fighter squadrons deployed combat
search and rescue capabilities three times and helped enforce the no fly zone over Iraq. From August to December 2002, the 510th Fighter Squadron and
603rd Air Control Squadron returned to Southwest Asia. The two squadrons supported
Operation Enduring Freedom. Simultaneously, the 555th deployed personnel and aircraft to
Decimomannu Air Base,
Sardinia while the runway at Aviano closed for repairs. The wing's support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom began in late 2003. Aviano served as the launch point for insertion of airborne forces opening a second front in northern Iraq. During that time, the wing secured, bedded and fed more than 2,300
Army and Air Force personnel. The operation, the largest airborne operation since 1989, constituted 62 missions, transporting 2,146 passengers and 2,433.7 tons of cargo. Since the beginning of combat operations in Iraq, forces from the wing have been on regular combat rotations into the region. In late 2003, the wing's 603rd Air Control Squadron became the first unit from the wing to deploy to Iraq. They also relocated their entire operation from
Baghdad International Airport to
Balad Air Base. Under combat conditions, the squadron transferred $73 million in equipment and more than 100 personnel with 20 convoys. On 10 April 2004, insurgents launched a mortar attack on Balad, killing Airman First Class Antoine Holt and injuring two other 603rd members. Airman Holt's death constituted the 31st wing's first combat fatality since the Vietnam War. The 31st Fighter Wing continued deploying forces in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Force, with more than one-third of the wing deploying to support operations each year from 2003 to 2007. In 2007, the 555th FS deployed to
Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea. Since arriving at Aviano, the wing has also participated in numerous training exercises with international partners, including training deployments to Latvia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Spain, Slovenia and Poland. In March 2011, the 31st played a major role in the
United Nations' response to the crisis in Libya, known as
Operation Odyssey Dawn, in enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya. The wing hosted four flying units and more than 1,350 personnel during the 15-day operation, 17–31 March. It worked around the clock to launch 2,250 flying operations out of Aviano. As the operation came to an end on 31 March, so began
Operation Unified Protector, with NATO taking the lead until the operation's conclusion 31 Oct of that year. ==Lineage==